First GOP Rep Joins DOMA Repeal Fight

The battle to repeal DOMA finally has its first Republican co-sponsor. Via Freedom To Marry:

Today, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen announced that she would be the first Republican member of Congress to cosponsor the Respect for Marriage Act (H.R. 1116), sponsored by Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), to repeal the so-called Defense of Marriage Act. "Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen's support for this important bill confirms that equal respect for all marriages is a bipartisan, mainstream value,” said Evan Wolfson, founder and President of Freedom to Marry, the campaign to win marriage nationwide. “Working with Representatives Ros-Lehtinen and Nadler, and the Respect for Marriage Act's 124 co-sponsors, Freedom to Marry will continue to make the case to Republican and Democratic members of Congress that it's time to return the federal government to its proper role of honoring all marriages legal in the states -- without a gay exception."

According to above-excerpted press release, Ros-Lehtinen's support was gained with the help of the Log Cabin Republicans. She is the most senior Republican woman in the U.S. House and was first elected to represent Miami in 1989. (Her district includes South Beach and Key West.) She is also the only GOP member of the congressional LGBT caucus.